I had my first non-story encounter last night, so I'm afraid it's too early for me to know whether they scale or not...

I did however make a noob mistake by buying a bulk of the more advanced health items without having any units with the skills to use them, and then got caught in the encounter with only a couple of the standard health items... It was a close call, and a mistake I won't be making again!

I'm playing, but have only just started, got past the Necromancer battle yesterday. Hope to play some more soon as I'm very impressed so far.
It is very complex though, I'm still getting my head round it. FFT is pretty streamlined in comparison.

Love the option for data install on the UMD version btw. No more whirring noises so I can play in bed and not disturb the wife! Why don't all games do this?

@jkrodal
Yep, if you move over the map, you can trigger random encounters to help level up classes/skill points.

@erp
I did that too, now both my main mage and healer have lv.2. battlefield alchemy!
You seem to get a lot of money from selling the junk that dead enemy troops leave behind as well, which is good.

Have got my first 'Terror Knight' and 'Dragoon', who are fitting in nicely. When you get a new class, it's worth looking at what skill options they have, some have different options than others. Most of my fighty types have got 'truestrike', as on main missions I've found that more and more enemies are quite hard to hit. Also, I was pleased to find that you can activate a skill (as long as you have enough TP) and take an action in the same turn.

Now my mage can meditate to regain MP before casting, and my knights can attack and then use a skill that reduces all damage taken by 90% until their next turn, but stops counter-attacks. Grand stuff. This game has got the greatest amount of troop tailoring that I've seen since Front Mission 3. I'm spending a good 20 minutes tinkering with the team before battles, and have 20 characters on my books, and after 14 hours still haven't finished chapter 2!

It's good that the whole class levels up together too- even though they need battlefield experience for skill point, it means I've tried fielding a whole squad of knights, only magic users, that kind of thing. The skill points are gained quickly too- a random battle usually gives you nearly enough for another skill or slot.

@redcrayon, I'm totally the same: I can easily spend half an hour in the shop and tweaking my squad between missions, and I haven't even hired any new recruits yet! It's true the shop and equipment interface could do with a bit of streamlining, but it doesn't bother me half as much as I thought it would, and certainly nowhere near as much as it seems to bother others online...

And my top tip for the uninitiated: press the Select button on pretty much any screen for a wonderfully detailed help system! I found it totally by accident (I'm pretty certain the game hasn't told me about it?) and it's proven to be absolutely invaluable.

One last thing, however: I can't be the only one who finds the story completely unintelligible can I? Perhaps I'm just being dim, but I haven't got the foggiest about what's going on...

It doesn't really bother me, though, because so far everything else has been solid gold. Not since Monster Hunter has my PSP gotten so much use!

@Zachm, nice tip, thanks! I'll try that tonight. When I first saw the introductory text against that (very pretty) cloud background I was expecting it to lead into a more detailed intro, but it never did. I didn't think of just waiting on the Title Screen though...

Just completed chapter 1, and so far I have to say it hasn't been anywhere as difficult as I thought it would be, though maybe the difficulty ramps up further in the game?
Not necessarily a bad thing, but I can see why some fans of the original were a little upset with all the concessions made for beginners.
Also, the UI, once you get used to it, is perfectly fine. Even the shop isn't bad, I guess those complaining about it weren't aware that the square button lets you look at who can use the weapons.
I personally think the story is great, and the decisions you have to make are much more morally ambiguous than you'd expect from a game.
Technically you don't have to "remember" everything as you can read up on the warren report.

Played for an hour or two now and enjoying it so far. I see what people mean about the shop, just a simple little thing that compares the item you're looking at to what you have currently equipped would work wonders. I can only imagine what it's going to be like as the shop expands, your party grows and you have to think about what each character already has equipped and how those stats compare to something before you buy it. Seems like an unnecessary amount of flicking between menus. It already has that feature in the Equipment screen anyway as you can see what impact a weapon will have on your stats before you equip it, so it's strange how they didn't include it in the shop menu.

The story is great so far, the dialogue is pretty sharp and there's some interesting characters. Even when I came back to it a day later though I did read through the dialogue and had to pause and think at times about the relationships between individuals/factions. Though I suspect it's just like a novel really, the more you read it, the more familiar you become with that world. And it's certainly not that impenetrable, the Warren Report does help and I think even reading the entries within there is critical to your understanding of the larger story. Nice that you can revisit cutscenes as well. Also like how you can listen to the soundtrack and each track is accompanied with a description of it and how it fits within the game by the composers through scrolling text at the top.

Nothing to complain about from the gameplay so far, I can easily see myself get stuck into this. Just something different from other games I'm playing through at the moment, I'm already getting that 'just one more fight' feeling from it.

Trust me, you'll get used to the shop after a while. I was annoyed and confused at first, now I literally spend no more than a few minutes every time I visit it.

You don't need to worry about the stats that much, if the level of the weapon is higher, it's going to be better (but check that they can use it by pressing Square + left/right).
If you're worried about what type of weapon to use, just make sure that the character has a skill that supports it. You'll get to know each character's skills off by heart after a while.

The only other thing to think about is whether its one handed or two handed. Obviously if it is two handed then you cant use a shield and your defence will go down.

And I agree, the story is not impenetrable. Certainly not as much as FFT anyway.

Porco wrote:
Just completed chapter 1, and so far I have to say it hasn't been anywhere as difficult as I thought it would be, though maybe the difficulty ramps up further in the game?

I'm in Chapter 2 and some of the missions get very frustrating, notably the ones involving saving someone. As I previously mentioned it was an exercise in frustration saving Cistina in Chapter 1. Now in Chapter 2 I have to save Arycelle, I've attempted it 5 times so far and each time turned off my PSP in a huff cos she's been killed before I can even get someone into range with a heal spell. I'm even doing a suicide run with Canopus moving him right into the middle of enemies in the hope they'll focus on beating up him, but they rarely do.

These protection missions just seem to be down to luck, hoping that enemies miss some of their attacks on the person you're supposed to protect. Loving the game apart from this aspect tho.

Porco wrote:
Just completed chapter 1, and so far I have to say it hasn't been anywhere as difficult as I thought it would be, though maybe the difficulty ramps up further in the game?

I'm in Chapter 2 and some of the missions get very frustrating, notably the ones involving saving someone. As I previously mentioned it was an exercise in frustration saving Cistina in Chapter 1. Now in Chapter 2 I have to save Arycelle, I've attempted it 5 times so far and each time turned off my PSP in a huff cos she's been killed before I can even get someone into range with a heal spell. I'm even doing a suicide run with Canopus moving him right into the middle of enemies in the hope they'll focus on beating up him, but they rarely do.

These protection missions just seem to be down to luck, hoping that enemies miss some of their attacks on the person you're supposed to protect. Loving the game apart from this aspect tho.

That's really strange, I did that mission but didn't save her. She died, but I didn't get a game over screen, just continued with the battle and still completed it. Is it down to what choices you make earlier in the game??

Porco wrote:That's really strange, I did that mission but didn't save her. She died, but I didn't get a game over screen, just continued with the battle and still completed it. Is it down to what choices you make earlier in the game??

I get the game over screen if she dies. Presumably yeah it's due to the choices I've made - the main one was that I chose not to butcher all the villager plebs in Balmamusa.

Good grief - I dread to think how long I might end up spending between missions once I get access to the crafting system then...!

I never played the game in its original incarnation, but I still thank goodness for the change that means you level-up the classes instead of the individual units. I'm sure it's not the first game to handle levelling in such a manner - I'm pretty certain Valkyria Chronicles did similar at least? - but to me it definitely seems like an intelligently made, well-fitting change for Tactics Ogre.

Porco wrote:
Just completed chapter 1, and so far I have to say it hasn't been anywhere as difficult as I thought it would be, though maybe the difficulty ramps up further in the game?

I'm in Chapter 2 and some of the missions get very frustrating, notably the ones involving saving someone. As I previously mentioned it was an exercise in frustration saving Cistina in Chapter 1. Now in Chapter 2 I have to save Arycelle, I've attempted it 5 times so far and each time turned off my PSP in a huff cos she's been killed before I can even get someone into range with a heal spell. I'm even doing a suicide run with Canopus moving him right into the middle of enemies in the hope they'll focus on beating up him, but they rarely do.

These protection missions just seem to be down to luck, hoping that enemies miss some of their attacks on the person you're supposed to protect. Loving the game apart from this aspect tho.

Are you still having trouble with this? I went back and rescued her by equipping one of my units with a lobber and skill "field alchemy I", put them on the left front side of the field alongside someone with a heal spell and they both got up to her in time to heal (I hardly did any acts with any of my units until she was healed, just rushed them all up in a line to act as decoys. It's important to place them so they don't get in each other's way. The only other act I did was to put a few enemies to sleep with a wind spell (can't remember the exact name).

erp wrote:
Good grief - I dread to think how long I might end up spending between missions once I get access to the crafting system then...!

I never played the game in its original incarnation, but I still thank goodness for the change that means you level-up the classes instead of the individual units. I'm sure it's not the first game to handle levelling in such a manner - I'm pretty certain Valkyria Chronicles did similar at least? - but to me it definitely seems like an intelligently made, well-fitting change for Tactics Ogre.

Agreed, what's also good is that new classes level up really quickly, and because everyone gets experience points at the end of the battle no matter what they do, you can just let new classes sit back and watch the battles.
Within a couple of battles, they're almost on the same level as the other classes.

Part of me misses the more hands on approach to gaining experience, but it makes more sense from a game balance point of view. It means you can't just rely on a few really powerful units by letting them do all the work and powering them up to supermen.

I've since managed to save Arycelle - I removed all of Canopus' equipment and just gave him the most basic knife so he could move further. He managed to reach Arycelle and top up her health with items until my healers got in range, and the enemies mostly focused on beating up Canopus too. Apart from saving her, that mission was a doddle.

Just unlocked the ability to craft items. It's clear straight away that crafting items will soon become an intolerable slog but required to get the best gear.

And yep, also agreed re: the class system. Much more sensible than the genre norm of grinding each and every character individually. The skills still provide plenty of opportunity for additional tailoring of course.

Yeah, the skills system complements the new levelling system perfectly. I don't know whether the skills are new to this PSP re-imagining too, but they are yet another brilliantly considered piece of design.

I must admit I'm slightly scared of the crafting system now... But I did not long ago have to cold-turkey myself away from a growing Monster Hunter Tri addiction, so I'd like to think I can handle it.

Wheeeeew, I finally completed Chapter 1 last night. It has, however, already taken me 20+ hours!

Now is this normal, or am I just ridiculously slow at this game?? (It wouldn't surprise me, to be honest.)

It's not like I've had to have multiple attempts on many of the missions though - I think I've probably only failed 2 battles so far - so perhaps I've just developed quite a cautious play-style... (And my wont for endless shopping and equipment tweaking is already documented above, and likely to get worse once I can start crafting!)

Not that I'm complaining, of course, as I'm still enjoying it immensely. I've got a bout of shopping and equipping to do tonight - and possibly some experminting with recruiting and/or converting some new character classes - and then off into Chapter 2 I shall head...

Just completed chapter 2, and my playtime is 27 hours. Maybe I'm rushing it a bit!

At least you're getting your money's worth erp. Remember there are 4 chapters, so that'll take your playtime to 80 hours. Then there's the post/side game content that could add another 20 hours. And of course after you complete the game you get the world tarot so you can explore the other branching points, that could double or triple your game time.
So all in all, what, 300 hours?!

Apparently, the game clock has enough digits to allow for 9999 hours.
Matsuno boasted about it. Make of that what you will.

The game is completely different if you take a different path as well. I didn't feel comfortable with the choice I made at the end of chapter 2, so I went back and made a different decision. Everything changes, you go to a different part of the map, totally different battles, different guests, the loyalty of some of your team members change.

It's also interesting to see the changes in cutscenes. In one scene a character appears on one of the paths but doesn't on another path. Completely changes the dynamic of that scene.

This is a proper RPG where you feel like your choices make a difference. And they aren't easy choices.